triciab04's reviews
919 reviews

Dirty Lying Faeries by Sabrina Blackburry

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

This was a fresh spin on a familiar concept. I loved the whole idea of adult changelings. I enjoyed the story as a whole but I do think with a little more development on each front (Romance and Fantasy) it could have really been a stunner. It was enough to build an entertaining tale but fell short of that wow factor. I liked the main characters fine enough but they were probably more on the bland side depth wise. I liked that Thea was very collected and not a total mess which I feel is common in this type of story but I would have liked a little more complexity to her. With Devin I liked that he wasn't a total alpha jerkface but I would have expected a little less puppy dog vibes from the king of a Fae court. Fated mates is not an unfamiliar trope and I'm not opposed to it at all, but there was really zero tension or build up here and that made it hard to truly get invested about the outcome.

The world building was pretty well done. I enjoyed that element best but in the end it did all feel a little rushed and you're left with a fair amount of questions. It felt a little heavier on the telling rather than the showing too which is a bit disappointing. The plot was good too, I like a good mystery unraveling and I rather enjoyed the battle at the end. I definitely got the feeling this could be the beginning of a series and if that's the case I would like to see how things develop as it goes.

I received an arc of this book from Wattpad Books via NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Crown of Crimson by Karina Halle

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Smut by Karina Halle

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Book of Night by Holly Black

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was so excited for Cain's story and after being swept away by the previous two books I had really high expectations for this one. Unfortunately, I may have hyped myself a little too much for it. While I did enjoy it overall it just wasn't everything I was hoping for. I found myself less and less excited each time I picked up the book which in turn made it much slower going than the previous books.

The Change by Kirsten Miller

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Well well well, this was an absolutely delicious little morsel of Feminist Magical Realism. It was the perfect balance of dark and light. At times the subject material (in several different ways) was harsh and is difficult to look at but mostly because there was such a chilling undercurrent of truth in ALL OF IT. Terrible little chunks of ugly truths (most especially for women) but to combat that there was a fantastic trio of strong women that you couldn't help feeling like you wished could be your best friends in real life.

Also, I loved that these leading ladies were middle aged! It was refreshing and a great highlight on some of the very real struggles and triumphs that can come in that time of your life. As someone that has a kid in college that is making my way to the back 40, I found I could relate to some of the content. As a side note, I started reading this the day after the Supreme Court leak about Roe v Wade and to be honest I think it was a fitting read for this time especially. Jo, Nessa and Harriet helped lighten the load a bit in a sense and helped inspire to not back down in the face of injustice.

Very timely, smart and wickedly satisfying. I will say that I did figure out the larger plot line fairly early on but there was a lot more being said in this story other than the whodunit which kept me more than happily blazing along.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

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adventurous dark fast-paced